Review of Firefly: The Complete Series (Box Set)

Introduction

There was a lot of expectation on the shoulders of Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon; anything from Whedon would be seized upon. Enter Firefly, Joss Whedon`s adventure series set in space, populated with the Alliance, smugglers, dodgy deals and plenty of brown in the production design. This is a series that Fox cancelled and stopped showing by airing only 12 of the 15 shows. The remaining 3 were completed but not shown and this DVD set is now a chance to see everything. Despite this series being cancelled, it`s developed quite a following. Whedon has another bite of the cherry however with the Firefly film which is due to start production soon. Just a side note, Dark Angel was the show that Fox axed to replace with Firefly.

Firefly is a class of spaceship with its engine in the tail and when this lights up it resembles a firefly. The ship is aptly named, "Serenity" and is mainly a cargo ship but transports passengers too. The kind of cargo mainly dealt with by Serenity is of the smuggled variety. The Serenity crew: Mal (Captain Malcolm Reynolds), Zoe (2nd in command), Wash (Serenity pilot and married to Zoe), Jayne (redneck), Inara (Companion and more on her later), Kaylee (ship mechanic), Book (a priest), Simon (doctor) and River (Simon`s unusual sister).

Inara (Morena Baccarin) is known as a `Companion`, another word for a working girl. Except that these companions are treated with respect and can often add credibility to a ship`s crew. Brother and sister Simon (Sean Maher) and River (Summer Glau) are on the run from the Alliance. The Alliance were doing some sort of experiment on River but Simon kidnapped her and they`re now fugitives always looking over their shoulders. Book (Ron Glass) is just looking to take a trip and ends up with Serenity. Mal and Zoe served together in the war and the others are introduced later on.

The order of the episodes on the DVD while different to the broadcasted order is the correct order. So here then for your delectation, is a series summary with as few spoilers as possible.

• Episode 0: Serenity (unaired pilot)
• (audio commentary: Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillian)
This is a feature length pilot and serves as our intro to a crew of smugglers of the Firefly class ship, "Serenity" as well as the Alliance, the people that our smugglers don`t side with. Relationships et cetera are brought to light here with fugitive siblings, Simon and River, wanted by the Alliance. We meet a priest `Book` of sorts too.

• Episode 1: The Train Job
• (audio commentary: Joss Whedon, Tim Minear)
On the look out for work, Mal, Zoe and Jayne meet a lowlife gangster called Niska. He wants them to steal some cargo from a train, which just happens to have an Alliance platoon on board. The truth about the cargo comes to light putting the Serenity crew in an awkward position. A pear-shaped mission if ever there was one; Niska will not be pleased.

• Episode 2: Bushwhacked
Looking for anything to make money, Serenity comes across what looks like an abandoned spaceship. There`s plenty to loot but why is it empty? They board the ship and find a lone survivor whom they take back, along with whatever they salvage. Little do they know the Alliance has boarded Serenity and accused them of an illegal salvage op. While being taken prisoners deadly Reavers appear and cause trouble...

• Episode 3: Shindig
• (audio commentary: Jane Espenson, Morena Baccarin and Shawna Trpcic)
Time to get dressed up as the crew attempt to get a job by attending a nice smart party. Mal defends Inara`s honour by punching a smug well-monied bloke in the face. Little does he know that this is his way of getting into a duel at dawn.

• Episode 4: Safe
Upon delivering some cattle to a settlement, the crew are ambushed by local law enforcement, Book gets shot in the crossfire and Simon and River are kidnapped. Serenity is forced to leave Simon and River behind as they get medical help for Book. Simon is forced to work, using his medical skills, in the local town, but when River starts one of her psychic trips it scares local folk and leads to trouble.

• Episode 5: Our Mrs. Reynolds
Our charming Serenity captain, Mal, mistakenly wakes up married to Saffron. It seems the previous night`s partying had a marriage ceremony built-in meaning he`s now with wife. She isn`t all she seems however and leads the crew into some space trouble.

• Episode 6: Jaynestown
Jaynestown is named after redneck crew member, Jayne. He`s been around these parts before and is seen as a local hero to the down trodden. The good vibe doesn`t last however when someone from Jayne`s past comes back to haunt him and the truth about Jayne is revealed.

• Episode 7: Out of Gas
• (audio commentary: Tim Minear, David Solomon)
Whilst out in the middle of nowhere, an explosion on board Serenity causes life-support and engines to go down leaving very little oxygen behind. In an effort to save them Mal splits the crew up and sends them in two shuttles in opposite directions to find help. They desperately need a ship part to get things back to normal. As the air depletes, Mal clings to life hoping that help arrives soon.

• Episode 8: Ariel
The next mission comes from none other than Dr Simon. He needs to use state-of-the-art medical facilities on Ariel to find out what experiments the Alliance was doing on his sister. In exchange for getting him into a secure facility, the crew can steal whatever medical supplies they can lay their hands on from this government hospital. Things don`t go quite according to plan however.

• Episode 9: War Stories
• (audio commentary: Nathan Fillian, Alan Tudyk)
Wash is a little jealous of his wife`s war stories when she served under Mal and wants some of his own so he elects to go with Mal on a mission. While on this mission, lowlife gangster Niska catches up to them and kidnaps the pair for torture.

• Episode 10: Trash
Re-united with devious ex-wife Saffron, the Serenity crew decide to get involved in a heist she conjures up to steal an antique worth millions. They`re deeply paranoid about her, and with good reason, but times are hard and they need to make a few bucks.

• Episode 11: The Message
• (audio commentary: Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite)
Mal and Zoe receive what appears to be a dead body in the post who happens to be a soldier who served with them in the war. The message asks them to take him to his parents for burial. Something isn`t quite right though as an Alliance Captain, doing a job on the side, is hunting for this dead body.

• Episode 12: Heart of Gold
No, the Heart of Gold doesn`t make a guest appearance from The Hitch Hikers Guide, but instead refers to the generosity of our beloved Serenity crew. A friend of Inara`s is having trouble with the local town boss who`s trying to make claim to a new born baby, so everyone pitches in the defend against him and his rowdies.

• Episode 13: Objects in Space
• (audio commentary: Joss Whedon)
A smart bounty hunter tracks down River and attempts to take her to the Alliance after disabling the crew and ship. Are things ever so straightforward?

Video

Presented with a 1.78:1 widescreen enhanced video transfer, Firefly for the most part looks good. It`s clean with well-balanced colours and fair detail. There are some episodes however that show more grain than others and while not a distraction, it`s still there to see. This aside, I couldn`t spot any other problems with the video quality.

Audio

The English Dolby Surround audio is underplayed for a sci-fi show. Perhaps it`s too much to expect a 5.1 soundtrack on a TV show but this is precisely what Firefly needs; there`s plenty of action that would benefit from it. As it is the sound does deliver ambience to all channels with clear dialogue coming from the front. It`s adequate but could be better.

Features

Easy to navigate animated menus with a fair selection of supplements:

• Audio Commentary (subtitled) - There are seven audio commentaries: Serenity, The Train Job, Shindig, Out of Gas, War Stories, The Message and Objects in Space. The commentaries from various cast and crew are a bit of a mixed bag. Some, like the ones with Joss are good, while the one on episode 3 sounds dull to me. I just don`t get the same level of insight from these three women as I do from others on other episodes.

• Here`s How it Was: The Making of Firefly (subtitled) (28:40) - Here we are with the cast and crew talking openly about the series, the stories, their characters and difficulties. It`s a nice little exploration from genesis to cancellation.

• Serenity: The 10th Character (subtitled) (9:46) - A little about the production design and special effects. Nice but short.

• Deleted Scenes (subtitled) - There are four deleted scenes, two from the episode Serenity, and one each from Our Mrs. Reynolds and Objects in Space. The first is an alternate version of the pilot opener but it`s downbeat and doesn`t create a positive first impression. The second refers to the battle already in the revised opening of the pilot so it was dropped. The third was nice but too long, while the fourth is a bit of deleted dialogue.

• Alan Tudyk`s Audition (subtitled) (1:05) - All actor`s taped themselves, but we get just the one here. It`s not something you`re likely to watch more than once.

• Gag Reel (subtitled) (2:42) - A nice bloopers reel.

• Joss Sings the Firefly Theme (1:17) - Listen to Joss Whedon singing "The Ballad of Serenity". This puts Joss`s singing behind Firefly`s opening titles. Don`t give up your day job Joss.

• Joss Tours the Set (subtitled) (1:24) - Joss gives us a quick tour of the Serenity set and explains to us that this is his dream project.

All episodes and audio commentary have English subtitles.

Conclusion

After a slow start Firefly improves measurably and I have to say that I enjoyed the series. The pilot, "Serenity", where we`re introduced to the characters took me a little while to get into as I found the pace too slow. It`s probably for this reason that it wasn`t originally shown as TV executives felt that more action was needed. I thought the pilot was trying too hard by showing as much of the show`s characters as possible. I continued to think the same way until the second disc and it was here that I found myself getting used to the show`s rhythm, characters and style. It was growing on me, albeit slowly, but it was growing.

Like most TV series, there`s the `mission of the week` with a main plot coming and going and a few threads being woven throughout. By the last episode I really did want more, if only to evolve a few of the storylines, such as River`s psychic abilities, the untested relationship between the charismatic, charming and beautiful Inara and gung-ho Firefly captain, Mal Reynolds. Book`s past could be colourful and what of the Blue Sun corporation? In terms of science fiction, Firefly is set around 2517 in an unknown generic star system. There are no aliens in the traditional sense with extra limbs and prosthetics, but the opposition come from humans either as the Alliance, other crooks, corrupt officials and people in general.

I warmed to the characters and found Firefly to be a nice diversion. Some of the episodes are better than others in terms of invention. I think the best is episode 7, "Out of Gas", which is non-linear. We have the current time followed by the past to help work out what happened. There are also some good flashbacks, which helps to fill the time. As you can see from the episode summaries, stories are simple, but the characters make it enjoyable; I still remember watching the pilot episode wondering what I`d let myself in for.

Firefly is a bit different to what`s out there, but only because it`s set in space and has horses. It`s different to other Whedon shows and I think it had the potential to improve and carry on entertaining. It`s a shame there`s no more to it so I hope the forthcoming film will fill the gap left by this. Firefly is well presented with good video and sound and some good extras to boot. This series did the trick on me and I`m glad I persevered with it. If the idea of a sci-fi come western with an endearing bunch of smuggler misfits and dry humour is your cup of tea, then this is worth looking into.